Lamp shade holder



1956 P. J. KORNAN ETAL 2,759,097

LAMB SHADE HOLDER v Filed June 5, 1953 INVENTORS.

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ATTORNE United States Patent LAMP SHADE HOLDER Paul J. Kornan, ParkRidge, and Henry G. Kochman, Chicago, Ill.

Application June 3, 1953, Serial No. 359,364

2 Claims. (Cl. 240-138) This invention relates to lamp shades and moreparticularly to providing improved means for securing various types oflamp shades to electric light bulbs.

Lamp shade holders, that is, lamp shade holders comprising a clampingdevice consisting of two or more open or loop-shaped clamping memberswhich are adapted to be received by an enlarged end of an electric lightbulb in such a way as to support the shade in a desired manner, havebeen constructed in a great number of forms. All of the forms ofconstruction, however, have one or more limiting factors which eithercontributes to an increased cost of the shade assembly or to itscomplexity. Our invention overcomes most, if not all, of these limitingfactors and provides amore useable and saleable form of lamp shadeholder.

Briefly, our improved lamp shade holder is so constructed as to readilyreceive individual clamping members in slots provided in the holder. Thecomplementary clamping members are so constructed and arranged to permitthe members to be spread apart to resiliently clamp a light bulb. Forpurposes of packaging, shipping and storing, the clamping members can beeasily disengaged from the holder and compactly nestled together. Wehave also provided a novel construction for securing the lamp shadeholders to the lamp shade.

A general object of our invention, therefore, is to provide anexceedingly simple, efficient and economically constructed lamp shadeholder and assembly.

Another object of our invention is the provision of an improved lampshade holder which is so constructed and arranged as to be readilyassembled and disassembled for purposes of packaging, shipping andstoring.

Yet another object of our invention is to provide a lamp shade holderwhich is adaptable to support a great variety of lamp shades withvarious sizes of openings and centers.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention willhereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not or"limitation, preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view showing our new lamp shade holder;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view, partially in section, of our newlamp shade holder;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of our new lamp shade holder;

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the parts compn'sing our new lampshade holder and assembly;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a modified form of lamp shade holder applicable to ourinvention.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figures 1 and 2,there is illustrated a lamp shade S which may be of any suitablecharacter and configuration. In the example shown, shade S isfrusto-conical in shape and, at the smaller end thereof carries anattaching or ice supporting member or holder H. The holder H is disposedsubstantially centrally of the smaller end of the shade S and comprisesa ring 10, generally made of a light gauge metal. Said ring 10 has aplurality of outwardly disposed ears 12 generally of circular shape, thepurpose of which will be pointed out hereinafter.

The ring 1.0 can be of any desired form, such as a flat piece of metalor with a downwardly extending flange 14 as shown in the drawings. Apair of complementary slots 16 and 18 are provided on the interior sideof the ring 19 and extend substantially midway into the ring 10. Thepair of slots 16 and 18 are disposed opposite each other so that theyare in approximately the same plane. Preferably the slots 16 and 18 aredisposed at an angle inclined towards the center of the ring 10.

The slots 16 and 18 are adapted to receive resilient clamping members 20and 22, which clamping members are preferably made of a relatively lightspring wire and are of open or loop form, so that they may readily adaptthemselves to the larger ends of electric light bulbs. The clampingmembers 26 and 22 are of identical construction and at both ends of theholders are formed loops 20a and 2211 which are bent back uponthemselves and in the same plane as the clamping members 20 and 22. Theloops Zita and 22a of the clamping members 20 and 22 terminate in shortlugs 20b and 22b which are bent at substantially right angles to theclamping members 20 and 22.

When the clamping members 2:? and 22 are formed, we prefer that the openends be somewhat larger than the diameter of the ring 10 in order thatthe ends thereof will be urged outwardly so that they will be firmlyheld by the ring it) when they are in engagement With the slots 16 and18 thereof.

The clamping members 20 and 22 are inserted into the ring 11) bycompressing the holders, placing the compressed ends of the holderswithin the inner portion of the ring 10 until each of the loops of therespective holders is engaged in the slots 16 and 13 of the ring 10 asshown in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings. Because the clamping membersare made of relatively light spring wire and the open ends of theholders are larger than the diameter of the ring 16, the clampingmembers will be resiliently held within the slots 16 and 18 of the ringit To disengage the holders 2% and 22 from the ring 10, the procedure isreversed.

Thus it is to be seen that this unique and relatively simpleconstruction and design of the clmping members 20 and 22 permits them tobe readily assembled to or disengaged from the ring 16 of the holder Hby simply compressing the members 24) and 2?. until the loops 20a and22a are engaged with or disengaged from the slots of the ring it). Thisis of great importance since ready assembly and disassembly of theclamping holders 2%) and 22 from the holder H greatly decreases thetotal cost of the complete lamp shade holder. This results in a savingof space when the complete lamp shade assembly is packaged for shippingor storage which, of course, means a less expensive unit.

The ring 1t) of the holder H is secured to the shade S through the ears12 which are crimped about short rods 24, the opposite ends of whichreceive brackets 26 which are also crimped about the rods 24. Thebrackets 26 comprise ears 26a which are integral with a flat plate 26bwhich is bent at its terminal end to form a downwardly turned lip 260.The lip 260 of the bracket 26 envelops a portion of the edge of theshade S, which may or may not be reinforced depending upon the type ofmaterial out of which the shade S is made. After the lip 26c of thebracket 26 is secured to the shade S, the edge of the shade S ispreferably reinforced with a small metal band 28 which can be crimpedabout the top of the shade which 3 also acts :to secure the lip 26's ofthe bracket '26 to 'the shade S. As can readily be seen, the manufactureof the rods 24, brackets 26 and band 28 is inexpensive and permits aneconomical assembly of these parts into a complete Ila-nip shade 1holderassembly We have shown in :Figure 2 and :Figure 5 the position ourclamping members .20 and 22 assume when they :are in engagement withanelectricli-gh't bulb B. The terminal ends of the lugsltlb and 22b oftheholders, when they are spread apart to-accommodate to the size of theelectric bulb, are forced and bear against the top of the ring which,'ofcourse, retards the movement that the clamping members can makeresulting in the formation of a resilient clamp to hold the lampshade tothe electric bulb.

One of the many modified forms of lamp shade holder to which ourinvention is adaptable is :shown in Figure '6. The rnodified form shownin that figure is vfor use with a bridge type tlamp wherein anornamental top is desired. This form of lampshade holder requires thering 10 be bridged by a flange 30 having an opening centrally disposedto receive an ornamental top (not shown). The

construction and principle of operation of this modified form of lampshade holder is in all other respects similar to the lamp shade holderheretofore described.

Thus we have shown a new type of lamp shade holder and assembly which iscomprised of relatively few'parts which can be easily manufactured andeconomically assembled. Each of the .parts, in their combination,permits a new-and different cooperation which makes possible a veryinexpensive lamp shade assembly and without reducing the quality 'of theitem.

While we have shown and described specific embodiments of our invention,it will, of course, be understood that we do not wish to be limitedthereto and that by the appended claims We intend to cover allmodifications and alternative constructions falling within the truespirit and scope of'the claims.

We claim:

1. A lamp shade assembly for attachment -to a light bulb comprising, incombination, acentral annular bridge defining an inner rim, attachmentmeans extending from the bridge for attachment to the lamp shade, pairedopposing slots in the inner rim of the annular bridge, a pair ofseparate resilient loop shaped light bulb clamping members having legsat the open ends of the loops, lugs at the end of the loop legs, thelugs extending laterally from the plane of the loop, the loop legs andslots in the annular bridge being proportioned for a mating fit so thatthe loop legs can be snapped into place in the bridge slots andthereafter the light bulb loops snapped over a light bulbresiliently-locking the :loop lugs and legs within the bridge slots.

2. In a lamp shade assembly having a central bridge with upper and lowerfaces, removable 'bu'lb olamping means comprising, :in combination, apair of separate bulb clamping loops, each loop being characterized byits formation from a resilient material and having inwardly turned lugsat its open ends, and two pairs of opposed slots in the bridgeproportioned to .receive the loop ends and defining a lug supportingarea, the loops enacting with theslots to removably secure the loops inthe bridge, the loops extending .from the lower face of the bridge, and

the :lugs cooperating with the upper face of the bridge to anchor theloop open ends thereby enabling the bulb, when inserted between theloops, to impart a locking action to the lugs and loop ends at the slotsand lug supporting area.

References :Cited in the Pfile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,796,464 Kevorkian Mar. .17, 19-3-1 1,902,947 Carpenter et al Mar. 2-8,1933 2,058,847 Watral 'Oct. 27, 1936 2,103,322 -De Sher'binin Dec. .28,1937 2,475,405 Rousselle July 5, 1949 2,483,354 :Stiftel Sept. 2'7,.1949 2;6:-l 6,03.0 Van Dyke Oct. 28,1952 2,623,989 Le'hmann Dec. 310,1952

